Pope Francis released his post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on Wednesday. Titled Querida Amazonia, the document is an official encouragement to the participants in October 2019’s Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology. It is also addressed to the whole Church.
People looking for revolutionary change in the Latin Church’s long-standing discipline regarding priestly celibacy — or even an opening to possible exceptions — are disappointed, as will be people who were looking for a disciplinary fix to thorny doctrinal questions, including the possibility of ordaining women to the Diaconate as it currently exists.
